Heaven Tanudiredja changed my mind about my previous connontations of jade. Jade for me, meaning mother and grandmother’s necklaces and trinklets, in a pale green colour that is usually carved or embossed with a motif – the Far Eastern version of mother/grandmother’s pearls as it were. Heaven’s S/S 09 collection mined his supply of black jade to make these pieces, combining other elements such as frayed ribbon, gold chains and crystals to make pieces that get as far away from my own vision of jade as possible and are of course beautiful objects in their own right. When I went to see his collection at the FFI showroom in Paris in October, he said that once the black jade been exhausted, he would explore another material, making his collections a sort of natural exploration of Earth’s minerals. The shapes themselves looked a little like underwater creatures, especially as the basement of the FFI showroom was quite dim, making the pieces glint and snake about in a mysterious way.

Heaven also I believe designed Dries Van Noten’s jewellery last season (hence the wonderful pic shot by the Sart) but I’m glad he’s also got the opportunity to do his own collection at the side too.

it’s really nice to see someone do something interesting with jade. i really love jade actually, but i often think of chinatown when i think of jade… it just seems like such a versatile stone, i’d like to see more modern takes like the heaven pieces.

I’ve been dying to know who designed the Dries jewelry for a while now, thank you for the tip. I think he’s given the jade a completely different look from what you normally associate it with, and it has more of a feeling of onyx or jet. Really spectacular.
-Tiffany